AN: I just wanted to post a reminder here that I've resumed posting updates to my next story, "Awakening." Since I have twice as many subscribers to this story as that one, I figured that such a post would be beneficial for anyone who's interested in reading more XingYue adventures. FFN frowns on just posting author's notes (as do I, frankly), so I decided to post this bonus ending scene from my outline here. I had a very hard time disengaging from this story, and my mind kept trying to write additional scenes for it even as I told my brain in no uncertain terms that we were finished with this story. I felt strongly that the story needed to end from CQ's perspective just as it began-especially given the emotional high at the end of that last scene. Nevertheless, this scene is head-canon to me. Consider it a bonus, an extra, or simply a thank-you for walking this different path with me.

Part of the Cangwu parrot was tempted to mimic some of the sounds his sensitive hearing could detect from the room beneath his perch, but he felt like his master had gifted him with a sacred trust, and he wouldn't betray that for anything. Other people might care for his master, but he had seen the master at his most vulnerable—and he alone knew the full story of Master and Xing'er. He'd seen the partygoers start to stumble out of Qing Shan Yuan hours ago, and silence had settled over the grounds—mostly, of course.

Something tickled his senses that was out of place, but he couldn't put his wing on it. All he knew was that he was being watched, and he didn't like it. Finally, a slight motion drew his gaze, and he realized it had been deliberately made. His eyes lit on a tree nearby and saw Xing'er's friend who could also do the strange things with water. She was standing vigil on her own just to make sure nobody made trouble. Another noise caught his attention, and he saw another feminine form make herself visible for a moment before disappearing into the shadows near the entrance to Xing'er's quarters.

Then the warriors came, dressed in their honor guard and house armor and armed to the teeth. They ringed themselves around the building on which he was perched, backs straight and proud as they stared alertly into the night. The captain of Xing'er's guard was dressed in the resplendent set of armor that denoted his position as head of Xing'er's honor guard and her personal protector that he only wore on special occasions—or if he anticipated heading into battle with her. He stationed himself in front of the steps leading up to Yuwen Yue's doors, and nobody challenged his right to be there. Yue Qi separated from the rest of the Yue guards and took his rightful place beside him; the two men nodded at each other and faced outward.

A pair of men dressed in armor even finer than He Xiao's—one with only one arm—stationed themselves at the entrance to the courtyard, smiling at each other before facing out as a handful of their private guard also stationed themselves there. The parrot wondered if anyone besides a few soldiers were guarding the back approach, but then he realized that he hadn't seen the other small warrior woman and her chosen mate, so they were probably guarding the back.

Silence once again fell over his home and in the room beneath as he stood watch with the close friends of the master and Xing'er, and he looked up at the moon shining brightly and the stars around it twinkling merrily, thinking that, at last, all was as it should be.